Tis the season to be giving! I know you probably haven’t even thought about Christmas for your family yet, but have you thought about how you will give back some of your blessings this year?

It has been our family tradition for about 4 years now to help pack boxes for Operation Christmas Child. Last year I made aprons and zipper pouches as a little homemade touch to go in the boxes.

This year the girls and I brainstormed what we could make that would add some homey cheer. We came up with some cute little monsters and dollies:

*Note- you can find the tutorial I used to come up with the Russian doll pattern here.

Our little girl monster stuffed and read to go!

Some more crafties in progress. These are awaiting their stuffins.

The felt bell was traced from a kid’s coloring book. I just cut two pieces out, sewed the little flowers on, and sewed the two sides together with a whip stitch.

Aren’t these little Babushka dolls just adorable? They are such a simple shape- easy for the girls to help stuff. You simply use a felt circle for the face and add some embroidered details. I have 7 cut out and awaiting their faces.

The monsters and the dolls were ideas I got online, but I just created a simple pattern on cardstock. I folded it in half on the vertical so it would be symmetrical, and then I drew a half shape.

I also made this zipper pouch for one of the boxes, and an egg. Raven loves the egg. I was just using it as an example of how to stuff and sew a softie closed and wasn’t planning on adding it to a box. I dunno, do you think a child would like an egg??

We went to the dollar store yesterday and spent about $20 getting items for the boxes the kids will pack. $20 doesn’t seem like much (it’s not) but it gets a lot of helpful items like school supplies, soap, washcloths, toothbrushes, and toys. Each of the girls picked out 10 items. Look at our haul!

I would say that would make some children happy on Christmas wouldn’t you?

Are you making any gifts for Christmas? If you are, you can link up your post over at Natural Family Today and share in the homemade gift linky!